Oracle Grid Index finds positive adoption of Grid Computing in UK PLC

Oracle today unveils the results of its latest Oracle Grid Index research, which is dedicated to mapping the world's journey to Grid Computing. At a UK level, the Oracle Grid Index has risen to 5.3, making solid progress from its previous value in April 2005 of 4.3 and achieving the largest increase in UK adoption yet. However, Oracle's Grid Index indicates UK businesses are still struggling with the foundations of Grid Computing and continue to be outperformed by companies in Europe, North America and South East Asia.

Oracle's Grid Index demonstrates that UK organisations have made positive progress in their adoption of Grid Computing but are still disadvantaged in their foundation readiness, related to virtualisation of the server and storage environment. Oracle's previous Grid Index highlighted the UK's failure to make improvements in standardisation and consolidation of their IT infrastructures. Its low foundation readiness score of 6.1 in the latest Oracle Grid Index indicates the UK has failed to tackle the issue in the last six months. Finland, followed by the US and Sweden remains the most competitive economy in the world according to the latest rankings from the World Economic Forum1. This competitive edge is reflected in its retained position in the Oracle Grid Index as the European leader and second position worldwide in the Adoption Lifecycle Index.

Stephen Thornton, Database Solution Leader, Oracle UK, said, "Steady progress in the UK's adoption and understanding of Grid computing is an encouraging sign that UK businesses are starting to take advantage of this market-changing technology. We believe the potential of Grid Computing will be as significant to the future of business as the Internet has been today. Steps towards tackling the issue of foundation readiness must be taken to enable the UK to benefit from the technology and compete with those countries forging head in their adoption."

Key UK Grid Index findings

Comparison with the Oracle Grid Index figures launched in April 2005 shows that the UK demonstrates good progress on the road to Grid Computing. The UK increased its overall Grid Index from 4.3 to 5.3 and witnessed its largest increase in the Adoption Lifecycle Index, rising from 2.4 to 3.6. With a low foundation readiness score of 6.1 the UK is struggling alongside France, Spain and Italy in terms of its preparation for adoption.